Take A Seat On A Robot Chair
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Tuesday, 11 of December , 2007 at 6:43 am
This cool little project by Jelte van Geest won’t record what you’re saying or reconstruct itself, but it will follow you around and provide comfortable seating. There aren’t many technical specs, but it looks like you can check the chair out with a RFID card. The chair follows discreetly behind you, and is there whenever you need a little break. As soon as you leave the library, the chair returns autonomously to a charging slot. A whole bale of chairs can be controlled at once, automatically arranging themselves into seating appropriate for lectures and such.
Apparently, part of the inspiration for the Take_a_seat project is that, according to Jelte, robots have an image problem. Here’s his perception of things, which I got a kick out of:
[ Take_a_seat ] VIA [ Core77 ]
Category: Concepts
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Comment by hthth
Made Tuesday, 11 of December , 2007 at 9:42 am
I was absolutely psyched over this for a few minutes. Then after pondering how they implemented the flocking behavior, I realized it was CGI. It looks as though this is concept art entirely.
Comment by No Picnic
Made Wednesday, 12 of December , 2007 at 8:24 am
While it’s a novel idea and the concept might be useful elsewhere, the application of this technology in the video is absurd. First, it makes me say, “How flipping lazy do people have to be to have a chair follow them everywhere?” Second, those “pet” chairs are bound to just get in the way in a library. Thirdly, why would someone waste money in a small library to arrange the chairs and use such advanced technology when they could just move the chairs themselves. It would have been much better if the creator thought of something more practical and realistic.
Comment by Saul Wall
Made Saturday, 15 of December , 2007 at 2:01 pm
No Picnic said: “First, it makes me say, “How flipping lazy do people have to be to have a chair follow them everywhere?””
That was my reaction at first too but then it was just a concept demo. Having done long durations of time filing in stacks I can tell you that you get pretty tired of having to drag some stupid stool around to keep you from kneeling half the time while shoving your cart up and down the aisles. Hospital workers who need all their blood-taking supplies would be able to have their cart follow them around and call for a replacement when supplies were low.
Setting up a few seats is one thing but when you are dealing with a huge lecture or meeting in an auditorium and then cleaning up afterwards it is a major investment in time and effort. You would definitely need simpler, cheaper and more compacting chair-bots though.